THE FUTURE FOR ST JOHN’S CHURCH
The planning application to develop St John's Church into 13 apartments
was approved by Cheshire East Council Northern Planning committee
on 20th October 2010. Work started by clearing that part of the graveyard
that is to become the car park. Then all work ceased for many months.
On 2nd December 2011 the Simply Group made the following announcement
regarding commencement of building work ...
"Unfortunately
once the floor was removed it became apparent that there
was significantly more subsidence than originally anticipated and
so new Structural Engineers had to be drafted in to redesign the
sub structure. This meant that after receiving the original tender
quotations back, we then had to re-tender which considerably delayed
our start on site. I am pleased to now [advise] that the
project will be beginning at the start of January 2012 although
site preparation works will begin mid December."
 On
3rd February 2012 they blogged
on why there is no progress on any of their local sites .
Celebratory
final peal of St John's Church Bells!
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There was a final chance to ring the bells at St John's
Church on Saturday and Sunday 15th/16th January.
The Vicar of Bollington, Revd Veronica Hydon, suggested that
the peal be rung in honour of St Agatha, who is the patron
saint of bell foundries and also of people suffering from breast
diseases: so the proceeds of the event, a wonderful £424!,
have been split between the Stockton Heath church funds towards
the re-homing of the bells (£212) and the Breakthrough
Breast Cancer charity (£212).
St Agatha's feastday is
actually 5 February, but the final peal had to be before
that as the bells are being removed in the week beginning 17th
January 2011.
The church was crowded with those who wished to hear this
historic peal one last time. |
Silkonia video of ringing
Silkonia video of removal |
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During the following week the eight bells have been dismounted
and lowered to the ground. They have been taken, together with
their metal hanging frames, to the J
Taylor & Co Foundry in
Loughborough where they were cast 130 years ago in 1880. There
they will be stored until the church in Stockton Heath, near
Warrington, is ready to hang them once again. |
 It
was in Spring 2003 that an article appeared in Bollington Live!
about the threatened closure of St John’s church on Church
Street. Our worst fears came to pass and the building
has remained empty and unused since the end of May 2003. That
article ended with the suggestion that the future of the church
and the graveyard was a project that the Civic Society should
tackle.
Various rumours circulated about the 1834 building,
with views ranging from its potential to be developed for flats,
as a heritage centre, as a larger location for the Bridgend Centre
or its partial demolition to produce an attractive open space with
a better managed and improved graveyard. We are sure that many
have thought of other ideas, but whatever they were they would
have to have been financially viable. In 2003 a brief was prepared
for a thorough feasibility study to look into the options, but
nothing was progressed at that time. (Look
at the brief) Bollington Civic Society considered that it was time for
the local community to come together to try to formulate a plan
of action that would resolve the issues, before the building deteriorated
further, or was vandalised, was the subject of a fire or was developed
by a private developer in a way that the community did not want. By 2010 we have been unable to find any satisfactory financially
viable use for the building and are supporting the proposal by
the Simply Group to converting it for residential use. The
Church Commissioners now have one offer which proposes just that
and have approved their Pastoral
Scheme procedures to enable a
sale.
Interior view - the chairs have been removed but much else remains The dark mark to the right of the ceiling is undecorated plaster at a point where damp had damaged the building. The leak was repaired and the damp plaster replaced but never decorated.
The building1 The Grade II listed building of St John's church stands on a steeply
sloping site on the easterly side of Bollington. This is a Commissioner's
church built 1832-4 by Hayley and Brown on land given by local
MP William Turner of Shrigley Hall. The basic style is simple and
consistent.The walls are pierced by large regularly space pointed
lancets and splayed reveals. It comprises a five bay nave with
a shallow projecting sanctuary and west tower. The parapets are
continuously embattled around the church and, the typically small,
three stage west tower. Externally the building is unchanged but
the interior has been altered on a number of occasions during the
church's history and little of the original interior survives.
Gravestones A notice published in the Macclesfield Express, 15th December
2010, says ...
A Pastoral (Church Buildings Disposal) Scheme dated the ninth
day of December 2010 authorised the Church Commissioners to sell
the closed church building of Bollington St John and part of
the churchyard for residential purposes.
There are burials in the churchyard. The Secretary of State
has been asked to make an Order lifting the requirement to remove
human remains buried in the building and land, and they will
remain undisturbed. The Bishop of Chester has directed that the
tombstones, monuments and memorials in the building and land
affected by the Scheme shall be removed to a new location within
the retained churchyard.
You can obtain details of these arrangements and the rights
of personal representatives or relatives of deceased persons
interred in these graves or commemorated by the tombstones, monuments
or memorials from the Commissioners (contact details below) or
inspect them at Bollington Public Library until 21 January 2011.
If you wish to exercise such rights you must give notice to
the Commissioners at the address below by 21 January 2011.
Norman Bilsborough
(Signed) on behalf of the Church Commissioners
norman.bilsborough@c-of-e.org.uk
020 7898 1776
Church House
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3AZ
December 2010
Reference
- Based on Church Commissioners, in their Pastoral Scheme
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